Category Archives: work

cutely organised!

08 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by in home, retail therapy, sevilla, work

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I was at my friend Maria’s fab paper & gift shop Maspapeles the other day for a visit, and on the way out saw this opaque plastic swirly card holder thingy hanging on the glass door. And well, I just had to have one! Is this not an fun way to organise your business cards (or photos, or postcards…)? I love how stylish it is and how it tones in with the wall – so much cooler than a corkboard. And so now I have lots of biz info at my finger tips and it’s also attractively displayed.

I just get such a kick out of well-designed useful things, don’t you?

all in a morning’s work..

30 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in food & drink, sevilla, wine, work

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I was invited to an ice cream tasting this morning by my friend Eduardo who runs Different Spain, a fabulous private travel and concierge service. You may recall that a couple of months ago Edu and I went to an olive oil tasting together at the Basilippo Hacienda just outside Sevilla, and it turns out that this ice cream tasting, held at Mascarpone, was going to include three flavours made from Basilippo’s exquisite extra virgin olive oil.

Have to admit I’m not much of an ice cream person. Or maybe I’m a purist? I only eat ice cream once or twice a year and my favourite flavour has always been vanilla. But it was fun to taste a few very different flavours, such as:

  • vanilla olive oil
  • gazpacho topped with balsamic vinegar
  • chocolate with hot chilis
  • vanilla bonbon filled with wine and covered in dark chocolate
  • chocolate bonbon filled with olive oil and covered in white chocolate
  • mascarpone with salted sunflower & pumpkin seeds, mixed with dulce de leche

Later Eduardo and I were given some frozen fruit pops to try. They are not on the menu yet but I quite enjoyed my strawberry one, which was made from 45% fresh fruit. As for the rest, it was all very interesting and some of the flavours were quite nice, but I think I’ll stick with vanilla…

weekend plans and other stuff…

16 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in food & drink, friends, restaurants, spain, summer, tapas, travel, trips, work

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So what the heck.

Have been invited to Vejer to participate in a cooking class headed by the fabulous Annie B, and I am to stay over in the “yellow guest suite”, which sounds delightful. The next day Annie is going to drive me down to Zahara de los Atunes where we will have a delicious lunch in the village before she drops me off in Atlanterra so I can get down to work.

Said work involves taking photos and lots of notes about my Seville client’s sister restaurant in Zahara, which I already know well from my visit there two years ago. You may recall the time my friend Agustín asked me to look after their old pup Mini while they were away in Mexico. Not sure if this time I’ll be able to stay over at Agustín’s because he’s having work done on the place, but if not my client Charo says she can put me up. So why not?

And since you’re probably wondering… no, it never occurs to anyone to pay me extra for going out of town or spending days at events with them. At least, not so far. And so far I am more or less okay with that because I am trying to prove myself to them, that I really am a valuable asset. And, it must be said, a lot of the extra work is actually quite fun. But it doesn’t pay the rent.

There will be another trip to Zahara in early July – just overnight again – to make a video of a wine and food pairing evening with two of my clients. Which I think is going to be amazing. Stay tuned…

I give in!

15 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in home, sevilla, summer, tapas, twitter, weather, work

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It’s too darn hot…

And yes, I know it’s not nearly as hot as it’s going to get (and bear in mind that when it says it’s 36º it’s usually a good 5º hotter than that in the centre of town) but Nog and I just got back from his first “dress rehearsal” Sevilla Walk, with our twitter pals @annalibera and @jorgeguitian, and I finally put on the AIR CONDITIONING. Because I can.

And man, does it ever feel good. Even taking the inside temp down from 31 to 28 feels amazing, especially after a nice cool refreshing shower. But I mostly did this because when I got in I saw that Azar had thrown up on my bed (just “water” but all over the clean sheets I’d just changed last night) and then I found him hiding underneat the bed  looking decidedly floppy. So I decided he needed a little cool down time, during this hottest part of the day.

I had hoped to hold out until July, but oh well. I shudder to think what every hour of centrally cooling down all 90 square metres of this place will cost, but I reckon that an hour at lunch time and an hour in the evening before bed should help get us through the worst of it. And I have to say that it feels so luxurious to be able to come home and be comfortable! I expect to feel just as amazed next winter when I don’t have to wear four layers and shiver in front of a space heater. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for this luxury.

To wit… the first run of Nog’s Sevilla Walk went well. Still some editing and fine tuning to do, but over-all I think Anna and Jorge enjoyed themselves. Afterwards we had some great tapas at La Giganta. Cheap too! All that food and two drinks each for just 8 euros a person…